Re-Entry and Re-Threading: Putting Global Learning to UseStudents returning from study abroad often go through
a difficult period of “reverse culture shock” during which
they experience a sense of being displaced in their home culture.
This experience is often more difficult than the adjustment to a foreign
culture, and it is important for students to recognize that this discomfort
is a normal part of the learning process.

To be globally aware means to be uncomfortable as one tries to reconcile
being engaged simultaneously in more than one culture. Students returning
from abroad do not find the same home that they left behind; instead,
they view the campus, their friends, their parents and their studies
differently. The challenge for returning students is how best to continue
their international learning in fruitful ways that help them to integrate
this learning into their everyday lives and into their academic studies.

At Dickinson, students have many opportunities to weave their global
studies into their campus social lives and academic work.

Global Campus Connections: Opportunities
for Connecting Study Abroad to the Home Campus

Making Social
Connections

Apply to live in the Global Community House, a Language House
or with an international student.

Become a mentor
to an international student.

Become a study abroad
peer adviser.

Join one of the many international clubs
or organizations on campus.

Attend a Language Table
on a regular basis to converse with other students interested in the language, and with professors and native speakers as well.

Keep taking language courses or courses related to the location you studied abroad.

Present on your study abroad experience
at local schools and community organizations.

French Club
German Club
Hillel
Indian Student Association
International Club

International Politics & Economics Club
Italian Club Latin American Club
Middle Eastern Club
Model United Nations
Muslim Student Association

Newman Club
Pan Celtic Society

Portuguese Club

Rotaract
Russian Club
Spanish Club

Sisterhood

Students for Social Action

Sustained Dialogue

Tikkun
UMOJA

Union Philosophical Society

Making Academic Connections

Take
courses that focus on international topics and themes.

Take advanced language courses to continue your study of foreign
languages and cultures.

Take a course with a visiting
international scholar.

Attend lectures and discussions
focusing on international topics.

Develop a senior
thesis topic that relates to your overseas learning.

Office of Global Education Annual Photo Contest

The Office of Global Education sponsors an annual photo contest for returned study abroad students and international students to submit photos of their experiencesof either being abroad or in the United States. Submissions are usually due in early October (please see entry form below for current due date). All photos will be on display in the HUB Social Hall towards the end of the semester. Finalist photos will be voted on and a winner will be announced later that day at an awards reception. More information about this event will be forthcoming through e-mail and campus advertisements.

Please note that the number of photos you can submit in total for each program you participated on is 4.

For more information about the photo contest guidelines for submissions, please clickhere.

To complete an evaluation for your program, please click here to find an index of program evaluations you can download.

The Student International Research Fund The Student International Research Fund (SIRF) addresses
this disconnect by encouraging students to link their
off-campus learning with academic work on the home campus, thereby
giving students the opportunity
to think more broadly about how their entire education
at Dickinson is an education in global learning.

SIRF provides small grants to motivated students abroad to undertake
projects in their host countries that build upon their academic interests
or enhance their existing programs of study. The fund encourages students
to dig deeper into the cultures they are exploring by focusing special
studies on topics that are of particular interest to them and provides
students with structured outlets in which to share their learning. Projects
must have a connection back to the home campus, either as part of a
senior capstone project or a thesis; presentation at the annual global
education research symposium is required.

SIRF requirements are flexible in order to encourage students to think
creatively in finding innovative ways to explore their host cultures.
Research projects should be under the direction of a faculty member
and part of a course.

Examples of recent research projects include: A Study of the City Wall of Bologna, Italy
African Music, Musical Instruments, and Genres, Cameroon
Coastal Erosion in East Anglia, England
The Medieval Churches of Norwich, England
Cultural Implications of AIDS Prevention, France
Impact of Migration on a Mexican Town, Mexico
Rimbaud and Russian Symbolism, Russia
Obstacles in the Process of Integration into a Second
Culture, Spain